Uninstalling/ deleting things?

bez

Registered
Hi everyone, I am new to the forum, and a bit of a mac novice so any advice would be greatly appreciated. What I would like to know is, is there an add/ remove programmes thing like there is in windows if you want to uninstall some software, game etc? I presume that dropping it in the trash is not the correct way to completley uninstall something, so how do you view what programmes/ apllications you have on your mac, and uninstall what is necessary.
Thanks a lot, bez
 
Actually, you are correct in assuming that simply dragging the application/game folder to the trash is the preferred uninstall method. There isn't an "add/remove applications" thing as there is in Windows.

If, say, you choose to uninstall "Zoo Tycoon" game from your Macintosh, you would simply locate the "Zoo Tycoon" folder in "Applications" and drag that to the trash. If you want to take this a step further, you can do a "find" by pressing command-f in the Finder and search for "zoo tycoon" -- the find function may find some preference files or application support files which can also be dragged to the trash, though this step is not necessary. You must be absolutely sure that the files found with the "find" function really do go along with the application you want uninstalled... I must note that no harm will be done by leaving these files where they are, unless you're SERIOUSLY cramped for disk space.

Hope that helps!
 
Yeah, and even then, Preference files are usually very VERY small. So, if you don't find anything obvious, better safe than sorry.

Welcome to the Mac.
 
There's one reason, however, where you _really_ want to completely get rid of an application's support files and preferences: When the app doesn't want to run anymore. Then - this can happen but only very rarely does - you'll have to find those. Usually, they're found at the following locations:

"/Library/Application Support/APPLICATION OR MAKER NAME"
"~/Library/Preferences/APPLICATIONNAME.plist"
 
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